


Caught in the Middle

by nightbaron079



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 06:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1888254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightbaron079/pseuds/nightbaron079
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why does loving someone have to be wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in the Middle

**Author's Note:**

> I love everyone ;u;

Her phone was ringing, and it took all of three seconds for her to decide if she would pretend she was already asleep or answer the call. ****

She answered it, of course.

"Hello?"

"...Can I come over?"

She sat up. Tsubasa sounded like she was crying. Not a good sign.

 

"Sure. Are you alright? Where are you?"

"...At the lobby of your apartment building."

"Come right up."

Two minutes later, she heard her doorbell ring. When she opened it, When she opened it, Tsubasa stepped in, let the door swing shut behind her, and engulfed her in a hug as she begun crying.

"Miori-chan," Tsubasa sobbed, her arms tightening around Miori. The older girl pulled her to the living room and sat her down on the couch. She offered her ear and her shoulder to cry on, a box of tissues and a few cans of beer as she listened to the younger girl cry about a fight she had with a boy she knew all too well.

"It's been five days... It was both our fault but we both lost it. We were shouting at each other before we knew it and I ran away because I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared of losing him. Us. I don't want that to happen. I love him too much already, it's scaring me too."

She chooses not to answer. She was scared at the words she could possibly say, too.

Miori put Tsubasa to bed after a few more cans of beer, a few more tears shed. Tsubasa had tried to refuse, but her eyes and her heart were heavy, and she needed a rest.

She had just started cleaning up the mess they made when her phone rang again.

Miori knew who it was even if she didn't look to check who was calling. Even if she didn't hear that ring tone, his different from the rest.

She heard his voice, and she knew.

"Hi. Sorry for calling you this late. Did I wake you up?"

His voice was thick with something. Emotions, probably. Tears, definitely.

She glanced towards her bedroom door, where she thought she could almost hear the quiet sobs of the girl inside it.

"No, I was just... doing something. What is it?"

"...Never mind. I don't want to bother you."

"You don't call and hang up on me without telling me what you have to say! Come on Hikaru-kun, spit it out or I'll--"

"I'm stupid," he said in a rush.

"W-what?"

"I'm stupid and I'm an insensitive jerk and I probably scared her away because I'm selfish and I'm a jerk--"

"Are you at home?"

"Wha--yes?"

"I'm coming over."

"Are you crazy? It's late, you don't need to."

"After I hear you in that state, _I don't need to_? You're a mess."

"I'll be fine--"

"Liar."

"I'm not! Sorry, I really shouldn't have called you. I'm sorry, I'll be fine, really--"

"I have to go over before you drown in your tears or something--"

"I won't do that--"

"No one knows what could happen. You just said you're stupid and insensitive--"

"But I am--"

"And you're not--"

"But--"

"And stupid, insensitive jerks can do anything, and I will come over to either stop you or shake you back to your senses."

She ended the call before they can interrupt each other's sentences further.

His apartment was a couple of blocks away. He opened the door, had the grace to look surprised and glad that she really did come, and quietly let her in. Embarrassed, he tried to clean up the mess that he had made of rice crackers, mixed nuts, and beer cans.

But Miori sat down in the middle of this mess, moving aside a tissue box and turning on the TV to a news program. Opening a new bag of mixed nuts, she offered it to the guy quietly standing beside her.

"It's good," she commented, and a corner of his mouth lifts as he sat down beside her.

They watched the drama that came on after the news program without really seeing anything.

"Miori-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are we friends?"

She looked at him. He was looking at the phone in his hands, as if he was waiting for a call.

Maybe he really was.

"What do you mean?" she asks, to fill the air that hung between them.

"There are times when I feel like everyone's too good for me. Like, I don't know if I really deserve what I have right now... if I deserve you... her."

She hands him a tissue.

"I'm not going to cry."

"Oh, just shut up and take it."

He pouts but takes it willingly, then suddenly leans his head on Miori's shoulder.

"Sometimes I think what could have happened if I really fell for Miori-chan when we were filming..." he says softly with a sigh. She flicks him casually on the forehead, perhaps a little too hard.

"Baka. Don't say that. You'll hurt Tsubasa-chan if she knew. And we both know you love her. Very much."

 

She tries to keep the pain out of her voice as he laughs weakly at his own misery.

"Why does love have to hurt?" he asks. His voice sounds slightly strangled.

It takes a while before she was able to answer.

"Because the things that matter, you have to work for it. That's why you treasure them all the more. They can hurt, but it makes you want to protect it with everything you've got..."

They were silent for a while, until Miori's phone started ringing.

"Miori-chan? Where are you?"

Beside her, Miori felt Hikaru stiffen and become very still. For a moment there was no sound except their breathing and the white noise you hear when talking to people through telephones.

"I went out for a bit, I'll be right back. Do you want anything?"

 

The other line was silent... then Miori heard a soft whimper. And by the way Hikaru bit his lip, it looks like he heard too.

"I'll be there in a bit, okay? I'm hanging up."

She ended the call,then turned to look at Hikaru.

"...that was Tsubasa, right?" he asked. Miori nodded, waiting for what Hikaru had to say. He was gripping his phone tightly in his hands.

"I..." he starts, then sighs.

"Nothing... you should go..." he said, slightly smiling at her.

She frowns.

"No."

"Eh?"

She drags him to his feet, her eyes determined.

 

"No. I am not going to let you smile and laugh this away. You have to face this together."

 

He looked like he wanted to argue.

"You want to see her, right? You want to meet her. Why are you being like this?" she shouted, her voice shaking.

"I'm scared. I hurt her too much."

"If you run away you'll be scared forever. You want to see her, why are you holding yourself back?! You are going with me right this moment."

They were silent all the way out, Miori holding firmly to Hikaru's hand as she pulled him along the street.

"You can let go of me now... I can walk there on my own," he says in a small voice.

"And give you a chance to escape?"

"I won't..."

"I'll support you this way... you need it. It's the least I can do."

Her grip slackens, but he gives it a tight squeeze that made the both of them smile a little. They held hands until they arrived at her doorstep.

They entered her apartment quietly. Miori's bedroom door opened and Tsubasa came out, rubbing her eyes.

"Welcome home Miori-chan..." she said, trailing off when she saw who came with her.

"...I met him outside," she said lamely, by way of explanation. "It seems like the two of you have something very important to talk about."

Tsubasa mutely shook her head.

"Tsubasa... please?" Hikaru said quietly. He stepped forward, cautiously. She took a step back, shaking her head and whimpering.

"...Tsubasa-chan?" Miori gently said.

Tsubasa looked at her. Hikaru's gaze never wavered.

"Tell him what you feel. You both should."

 

 

 

 

 

Tsubasa looked back to Hikaru, and slowly steps forward.

He opens his arms for her and she steps into his embrace. They hug tightly, not saying anything else.

 

Miori went to the kitchen and tried not to hear as Hikaru whispered "I miss you" into Tsubasa's hair, or see how Tsubasa hugged Hikaru tighter and said "I miss you too" into his chest. They continued whispering to each other, Miori busying herself in the kitchen. Trying to not overhear them over the clanging of pots and pans.

Trying to drown out the roaring ache of heart break ringing in her ears.

 

 

She finished cooking dinner for the three of them. It was a simple meal, nothing fancy. She sets the dinner on the living room coffee table and embarrasedly pushed aside the beer cans she and Tsubasa had gone through earlier. Smiling, Hikaru and Tsubasa helped clear up enough space for them to eat. Miori just smiled when Tsubasa accidentally knocked over a half-empty can and almost had her carpet covered in beer had Hikaru not caught it in the nick of time. More beer cans were opened, the food was consumed, and Hikaru and Tsubasa continued talking while Miori was a silent, smiling audience and hostess.

 

 

 

After what seems like a dozen beers Hikaru and Tsubasa were asleep on the couch, Hikaru's arm around Tsubasa's shoulder and Tsubasa's head on Hikaru's chest. The both of them snuggled closer in their sleep as Miori spread a blanket over them. As she began cleaning up the beer cans and their meal she remembered how she had cleaned up the remnants of Hikaru's drinking escapade earlier, right before he asked her why they were friends.

 

 

 

_"Why are you doing that?" Hikaru had asked as she put the beer cans into a clear garbage bag._

_"So we can pretend this awkward silence doesn't exist and I could give you time to think about what you want to say," she had replied. He pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, looking at her with his (stupid but adorable) crooked half-smile on his face_

_"Tell me something?" he had said._

_"...I had a crush on you when we were filming Ikemen Desu Ne?" she said off-handedly. She meant to pass it off as a joke but at the way Hikaru was gaping at her she knew he understood that she was serious._

_"Wow really?"_

_"Yes really. Tamamori-kun knows. Fujigaya-kun avoided me for a bit when I said I liked someone else. I think he knew it was you."_

_"...wow. Uhm, what should I say in these situations? Thank you? Sorry?"_

_"Don't be sorry it ended," she said with a laugh. "Be thankful it happened."_

_"Sorry for being stupid."_

_"Nah. Besides we're better off as friends. And you have Tsubasa-chan now."_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She leaves the couple in the living room and retreats to her own room. It was dark except for a single lamp, and as she lay down in bed she stared at one thing that caught her eye.

 

At her bedside table was a framed picture of her with Hikaru and Tsubasa. Hikaru was holding his guitar in his right hand, his left on Miori's shoulder in a peace sign. Miori and Tsubasa had their arms around each other's waists, laughing at the camera as their picture was being taken. All of them were smiling, happy, friends.

 

 

She wishes everything stopped being so complicated.

 

 

 

 

 

She covers her head with her futon and quietly, finally, let out a sob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
